April 2026: This letter was delivered to Senator Moran's staff in Wichita, Kansas by a group of Friends and friends of Heartland Friends Meeting.

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From Heartland Friends Meeting, Wichita, KS

Topic:  The Cost of War - Rebalancing Priorities from War to Peace

 

April 10, 2026

 

Dear Senator Moran,

 

We write as worshippers of Heartland Friends Meeting in Wichita, Kansas bearing witness to

the dangerous road our nation is on and speak specifically to the needs of our enlisted men and women when they have finished their commitment. 

 

For 360 years, The Quakers have had a public testimony for peace. Referred to as a the “Peace Testimony” along with the other testimonies of Simplicity, Integrity, Community, Equality, and Stewardship of the Earth. The Peace Testimony is not passive: It insists on a just society that roots out the cause of violence and seeks resolution. We propose two practical things that can be done for the care of our veterans and want to open a reimagining of national priorities.

 

Why this matters: 

 

● Disproportionate spending, neglected systems -

The U.S. devotes more resources than any other country on the planet to war and military

readiness and spends more than the next nine highest-spending countries combined. Meanwhile, investment in mental health, education, housing, restorative justice, climate resilience, and community safety remain underfunded. (Source: www.ourworldindata.org)

 

● War’s hidden domestic effects -

Veterans carry wounds — physical, psychological, spiritual — that often go unhealed. Many

return to communities already suffering from social neglect. Our streets are overwhelmed with

people without homes and services for those who have served our country. Too often veterans

take their own lives. On average, over 17 veterans die by suicide per day. The cycle of trauma,

neglect, and violence is a wound within a wound. Outward and inward. (Source: Department of

Veterans Affairs)

 

● The conditions of conflict -

War is never isolated. It is fueled by resource control, geopolitical dominance, and systems of

inequality. To interrupt war, we must confront the disparities — of energy, food, land, capital —

that make it profitable and inevitable.

 

● Moral and civic alternative -

Reducing the military’s dominance does not weaken our country. It restores life as priority. By

redirecting tax dollars from the Department of War to needs within U.S. communities, America

will be made great.

 

We request the following be pursued:

 

1. Veterans ID – Provide (without having to apply or ask) a pocket version and electronic version of “proof-of-service” for returning veterans to take full advantage of discounts and services already provided them.

 

2. New Therapies for Mental Health - Offer and make available new therapies addressing mental health holistic healing when leaving the military: Tending to mental,

emotional & spiritual wounds, providing education, transitional programs, entrepreneurship, housing, and land programs — especially for veterans returning from conflict zones.

https://democracyjournal.org/magazine/39/a-trust-fund-for-veterans/?utm_source=chatgpt.com

 

3. Create a Department of Peace - An Open Conversation

Most of our leaders purport a desire for peace, yet it is not accomplished. Let us consider a new

path to peace. Shift investment away from the cost of war to diplomacy and peace-making.

Invest our dollars into mending trauma and support life and the living.

 

We look forward to hearing back from you on progress toward #1 and #2 of our requests and consider this a beginning of a relationship in regards to longer term change with national investment shifting from war-making to peace-making. 

 

Finally, should you need a neutral space to meet on any of these or other issues of negotiations, this is an excellent place and is there for you: Friends Place on Capitol Hill, 245 Second St. NE, Washington, DC 20002. Call to reserve a spot: (202) 547-6000 or (800)630-1330.

 

With hope for our human family,

 

Heartland Friends Meeting

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​​​March, 2025:  With deep concern about current policies and actions of our State of Kansas and United States leadership, Heartland Friends sent the following letter to our local, state and national elected officials and to the Wichita Eagle.​

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March 18, 2025​

 

Dear ______________________ -- ​Distributed via U.S. Mail to:  The Wichita Eagle; Chief Justice of the Supreme Court; Justices of the Supreme Court; Immigration & Customs Enforcement: Director and Executive Enforcement Director; State of Kansas Members of Congress; Members of the Kansas State Legislature for the Greater Wichita area; Mayor of Wichita, Kansas; Members of the Wichita City Council; New England Yearly Meeting of Friends

 

We of Heartland Friends Quaker Meeting in Wichita, Kansas expect our elected members of Congress, our courts and the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement Agency (ICE) to: 1) maintain legal status for those under DACA (deferred action for childhood arrivals), 2) create a pathway for U.S. citizenship, and 3) protect a pathway for those who come to our country to work.

 

​In addition, we affirm action taken to ensure that all individuals have a right to freedom of worship, to equal education and to health care.

 

We expect that ICE be barred from conducting immigration enforcement activities in houses of worship, schools and hospitals (ref. Case 8:25-cv-00243-TDC filed 1-25-2025 in the U.S. District Court for the District of Maryland).​

 

We expect our leaders to not repeat the cruelty and denial of human rights that is our unfortunate legacy, such as with Indigenous Native Americans. 

 

​If the only “illegal” act of an individual is the crossing of a border in search of safety and a better life, we believe offering a humane path to U.S. citizenship results in far better justice than family-separation and forced deportation.  We are currently disrupting the lives of productive, tax-paying individuals without (and some with) documentation by separating them from jobs, families and communities.  This is an unacceptable way of addressing issues we have refused to resolve for decades.​

 

As Friends (Quakers), we believe there is that of God in every human heart.  We believe the Divine calls us to affirm all people, acting with justice and compassion and treating our global friends and neighbors as we wish to be treated.We urge you to change course from the current presidential executive orders.

 

Signed, Heartland Friends Quaker Meeting of the Religious Society of Friends

Co-Clerks:  Connie Adams, Gail Kinzer, Jaylene Reed​

 

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